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Using CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey Data

Users of the Clinician & Group Survey include medical practices, health plans, health systems, regional and community-based collaboratives, accreditation and certification organizations, State agencies, and Federal agencies (such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Veterans Health Administration, and the Department of Defense).

These organizations use results of the Clinician & Group Survey to:

  • Pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of primary and specialty care.
  • Develop and evaluate strategies to improve patient experience.
  • Determine bonuses and other rewards for delivering high-quality care and/or improving patient experience.
  • Inform healthcare consumers about providers.

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses in Care Delivery

Many medical practices, health systems, and health plans monitor performance on the Clinician & Group Survey to determine where primary and specialty care organizations are performing well and where improvements in patient experience are warranted. To support these efforts, AHRQ provides guidance on how to analyze and report survey data to healthcare administrators and providers. Recent examples include:

Improve Patient Experience with Primary and Specialty Care

After using survey results to identify aspects of patient experience in need of improvement, healthcare organizations can combine survey data along with other information to determine what is driving quality issues and track the impact of improvement activities. AHRQ offers a variety of written materials and recordings to inform and support the process of improving patient experience with primary and specialty care.

The CAHPS Ambulatory Care Improvement Guide (PDF, 156 KB) is a comprehensive resource for medical groups, physician practices, and other providers seeking to improve their performance in the domains of quality measured by the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey.

AHRQ's research meetings bring together survey stakeholders and health services researchers to share current findings and identify research needs and priorities. Recent meetings addressed topics related to improving patient experience:

  • Assessing Patient Experience for Insights into Enhancing Equity in Healthcare. 
  • Advancing the Science and Implementation of Patient Narratives.
  • Advancing Methods of Implementing and Evaluating Patient Experience Improvement Using CAHPS® Surveys.

Read about these research meetings.

As part of the CAHPS program, AHRQ-funded researchers have been conducting multiple studies to test and evaluate improvement initiatives in ambulatory care settings. Read about recent and ongoing research on improving patient experience.

Case studies and reports on this topic include the following:

Reward Physician Practices and Groups for Providing a Good Patient Experience

Many healthcare payers and purchasers, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, reward physician practices and groups that have demonstrated improvements in their patients’ experiences and/or have survey scores that meet or exceed specified goals. These rewards are often part of larger value-based payment programs that are designed to provide incentives for high-quality care.

Report Clinician & Group Survey Scores to Consumers

Over the years, members of the CAHPS Consortium have contributed to various resources intended to support organizations in reporting Clinician & Group Survey results in a way that is understandable and usable for consumers.

Organizations that report survey results can also:

Page last reviewed December 2023
Page originally created September 2023

Internet Citation: Using CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey Data. Content last reviewed December 2023. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
https://www.ahrq.gov/cahps/surveys-guidance/cg/using-data/index.html

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